From Sarapis, to Christ, to the Caliph. Faces as a re-appropriation of the past
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
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| Description | Comparing the Late Antique faces of Jupiter Sarapis from the 2nd to the 4th century, of Roman Christ around the year 400, of Christ on Justinian’s II coins (668 – 711) and of the caliph Abd al-Malik on coins from the years 685 – 705, we are impressed by their very striking similarity. This aspect is, at least, surprising: The Late Antique Christian reception of the pagan god Sarapis was not friendly at all, and the conflict between Byzantines and Umayyads at the end of the 7th century was serious. Analyzing the two turning points – years 400 and 700 – the situation starts to be understandable: to appropriate the face crucial for the enemy appears as a way of signalizing a victory. This situation seems to find a larger anthropological background in the rituals of the mask: in tribal cultures the use of the mask of the enemy is a symbolic and ritual way to defeat him. While this interpretation seems convincing for these turning points, another crucial question remains open: can this explanation be transferred to the longue durée persistence as well? Alternatively, it would be possible to imagine a workshop continuity or an iconographic tradition. However, the represented figures are too important for this “materialistic” explanation. Could the reuse of an image signal the desired appropriation of history? Or is it that this face typology is extremely efficacious for the representation of a divinity? From Jupiter to Christ and to a divinely legitimized sovereign, the use of this kind of features assumes an anthropologic meaning: historical reasons are here mirroring the powerful archetypes. With the case study outlined above and further examples this presentation seeks to explore different possible motivations behind the longue durée appropriation of iconographies. |
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